East-West Views

Ayutthaya

It’s the stuff of high adventure: Warrior kings, mysterious ships from far-off Japan, thriving trade across oceans and generations.

All part of the real-life tale of Thailand’s King Naresuan, who sat on the Thai throne more than 400 years ago when adventurous Japanese traders and samurai first settled in Thailand. And, you can read all about it in English thanks to Kennon “Ken” Breazeale, a projects coordinator at the Center. Here’s the story: Continue Reading »

IT’S EASY to get opinions about the security and stability of the Asia Pacific region — everyone has one.

But Center official Richard Baker has a view with more than a little heft to it. Each year, Continue Reading »

By Justin Liang

On May 2nd, Cyclone Nargis exacted a tragic toll upon Burma, spawning a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions.
Coming amid a controversial referendum vote on a new constitution drafted by the ruling junta, the havoc wrought by the storm—and the regime’s uninspired response to international assistance—has raised numerous questions about the challenges and opportunities of engagement with the isolationist regime.

I recently had the opportunity to ask some of these questions to Ambassador Priscilla Clapp, who served as Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy

Pricilla Clapp

in Burma from 1999-2002 and recently retired after a 30-year career with the U.S. government. Ambassador Clapp has written extensively on Burma and will be speaking at an upcoming program at the East-West Center in Washington (see details of that program, as well as on another Burma program in Honolulu May 21, below).

Clapp spoke candidly about diplomacy with the ruling junta, prospects for humanitarian assistance, and the road ahead in Burma. Continue Reading »

Charles Morrison introduces the U.S. Asia Pacific Council meeting.

Take economic tremors in the United States that quite possibly could spread to Asia, add a billion Chinese who are feeling a little disrespected by the rest of the world, stir in a new conservative prime minister in South Korea and a Mandarin-speaking Prime Minister of Australia and what do you get?

Just about the perfect time, in the thinking of Center President Charles Morrison, for the latest gathering of the U.S. Asia Pacific Council of the East West Center. Continue Reading »

by Linda Kay Quintana
At a recent Research Program brown bag talk here at the Center, I was reminded that despite some ecologically minded choices, I’m no environmental super hero.

The idea that there is a per capita measurement for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is a stark reminder that every person’s actions count. Continue Reading »

By Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka

The author, at home in more tropical surroundings.

What in the world was this Solomon island village boy doing half a world away, in a tidy Norwegian city just south of the Arctic Circle?

Besides the obvious (shivering) and the unthinkable to many (eating whale meat, which tastes like beef) I was part of a team from the East-West Center and the University of Hawai‘i who were hashing out the details of a significant island-based research proposal with colleagues from the University of Bergen. Continue Reading »

The Presidential candidates have been out there this week debating mightily about the U.S. economy, trade and jobs.

While a lot of the talk has been about manufacturing jobs and rebuilding America’s infrastructure, there is also discussion of the gradual export of “knowledge” or innovation work overseas.

Dieter Ernst, a senior fellow in Economics Study at the Center, has been thinking and publishing on the issue of “innovation offshoring” for some time. For a look at his recent opinion piece on the topic as well as his proposals to deal with the “brain drain,” go HERE.

Are the candidates listening? Should they be talking more about this important topic?

Chat with Fereidun

Senior Fellow Fereidun Fesharaki gave a fascinating presentation about America’s (and Hawaii’s) energy future Wednesday evening to a gathering sponsored by the Friends of the East West Center.

His message: We’re about to join the rest of the world in paying substantially higher prices for gasoline at the pump, no matter what happens geopolitically, domestically or even in alternate energy options.

It’s all, he says, primarily a case of supply and demand.

For a complete report on Dr. Fesharaki’s talk, go HERE

While the current unrest in Tibet has many obvious causes, including longstanding resentment over “neocolonial” attitudes by the Chinese and the idea of making a statement while the world’s eyes are focused on the Beijing Olympics, there is something else afoot as well.

China researcher Chris McNally says the unhappiness in Tibet is symptomatic of problems facing Chinese leaders throughout the nation, including a widening income gap, environmental problems and human rights concerns.

Read Chris’s article here and let us know: Do you think events in Tibet reflect a broader and perhaps more systemic problem in rapidly-growing China?

By Denny Roy

Ma Ying-jeou

The milestones continue:

Taiwan’s democratization reached one milestone in 2000 with the passage of control of the executive branch from the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party, KMT) to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). With the return of the KMT to power following the recent elections, which I observed first-hand, yet another and equally important turning point has occured. Continue Reading »